Movie mogul Harvey Weinstein is being accused of groping a 22-year-old Italian model on the opening weekend of his Radio City “New York Spring Spectacular,” police sources said Monday. The model told cops that the Oscar-winning Hollywood producer sexually abused her after coaxing her to his Manhattan office on the pretense of talking business, sources told the Daily News. The woman told cops that Weinstein — a married, 63-year-old father of five — groped her private area and her breasts around 6 p.m. Friday in his third-floor office at the Tribeca Film Center on Greenwich St., the sources said. “He...

A former Utah State University fraternity president is accused of sexually abusing a woman at a fraternity party. Logan police arrested Ryan Wray, 26, on Tuesday night on suspicion of forcible sexual abuse, a second-degree felony. During Pi Kappa Alpha parties at the fraternity house, which is off-campus, people who "could no longer take care of themselves" were placed in Wray's care, said police Capt. Tyson Budge on Wednesday. "Several of the girls got talking and realized that they may have been taken advantage of," between last October and now, Budge said. One of the college-age women gave a statement...

Prominent liberal lawyers accuse Obama of fanning anti-Israel fervor By Kellan Howell - The Washington Times - Saturday, March 28, 2015 The Virginia State Bar Association has canceled a trip for its members to learn in Jerusalem later this year after some members campaigned against it, accusing Israel of “unacceptable discriminatory policies and practices” in how it ensures its border security. The episode, confirmed in an email from Bar President Kevin Martingayle that was obtained by The Washington Times, is the latest example of the impact of an anti-Israel fervor that has swept across some parts of America in recent...

The Virginia State Bar Association has canceled a trip for its members to learn in Jerusalem later this year after some members campaigned against it, accusing Israel of “unacceptable discriminatory policies and practices” in how it ensures its border security. The episode, confirmed in an email from Bar President Kevin Martingayle that was obtained by The Washington Times, is the latest example of the impact of an anti-Israel fervor that has swept across some parts of America in recent months as President Obama has feuded with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “Certain members of the Virginia State Bar and other...

Chelsea Handler says she has no doubt in her mind that Bill Cosby sexually assaulted numerous women. Handler revealed to Esquire that she had a strange experience with Cosby about 10 years ago, and she believes “he’s guilty.” “He tried to Cosby me,” she told the magazine.

This week, the Supreme Court heard arguments re Texas’s refusal to allow Confederate flags to be stamped on license plates as part of a “Sons of Confederate Veterans” design. I wouldn’t ask sons of Confederate veterans to disown their ancestry; in fact, my mother’s mother’s family was Southern, and four of my great-great-grandfathers fought in the Confederate army. And I know that lots of Americans sincerely see the Confederate flag as a symbol of states’ rights — particularly because virtually no Confederate soldiers actually owned slaves. But, personally, I see the Confederate flag as the symbol of men who, as...

Even though Virginia is one of only a few states not having to deal with the alleged "dumbing down" of the controversial Common Core, many parents statewide are now concerned with the proposed ban on zeroes from the classroom so that students' feelings aren't hurt. A Closer Look"Protecting" students from knowing about their subpar performance is different from school to school. "[Students cannot receive a score lower than 50 percent] unless they did not actually do the assignment or put in effort to do it," Montgomery County Public Schools spokesperson Dana Tofig told The Washington Post....

Two of the leading minds tasked with saving Terry McAuliffeÂ’s 2013 Virginia gubernatorial bid from controversy over his shady business dealings will likely serve prominent roles in Hillary ClintonÂ’s presidential campaign. Robby Mook and Josh Schwerin, who served as campaign manager and spokesman, respectively, in McAuliffeÂ’s successful bid, are all but certain additions to the growing Clinton team as the former secretary of state preps for a White House run. Back in 2013, the McAuliffe campaign became embroiled in questions surrounding the ongoing investigations into their candidateÂ’s Mississippi-based electric-car manufacturing company, GreenTech. Thanks in large part to Mook and Schwerin,...

Many of the key figures cited in a scathing inspector general’s report this week are allies of Hillary Rodham Clinton, marking the latest in a series of stumbles for the former first lady and secretary of state that likely forced her to delay her planned presidential campaign announcement.A Democratic strategist familiar with her team’s thinking said they are scrambling to limit the damage and readjust the campaign rollout schedule after the Homeland Security Department’s inspector general revealed an apparent cronyism scandal that ensnared Mrs. Clinton’s brother, Anthony Rodham, and two of her political confidants, Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe and former...

The No. 2 official at the Homeland Security Department intervened several times in projects with connections to insiders, including Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe and a brother of Hillary Rodham Clinton, according to a report issued by the department's watchdog Tuesday. Alejandro Mayorkas, while head of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, created an "appearance of favoritism" in a program that offers visas to wealthy foreigners willing to invest in American companies, the report says, though it stops short of saying Mayorkas was guilty of wrongdoing. More than 15 whistle-blowers came forward to complain that Mayorkas was giving special treatment to...

Not long before he became governor of Virginia, Democrat Terry McAuliffe received special treatment on behalf of his electric-car company from a top official at the Department of Homeland Security, according to a new report from the department’s inspector general. McAuliffe was among several politically powerful individuals from both parties, including Sen. Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.), seeking special visas for foreign investors through a program administered by the department. But intervention on behalf of McAuliffe’s GreenTech Automotive company by Alejandro Mayorkas, now the department’s No. 2 official, “was unprecedented,” according to the report. The long-anticipated report found no evidence of...

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, 44, announced his candidacy for president Monday, March 23, at Liberty University’s weekly Convocation. “Today, I am announcing that I am running for president of the United States,” Cruz said to an energetic crowd in a packed Vines Center, receiving loud applause and a standing ovation. In announcing his bid, the 2016 hopeful, who placed third in this year’s annual Conservative Political Action Conference straw poll, skipped the longstanding traditional step of first forming an exploratory committee. “It is time for liberty, it is time for truth, it is a time to reclaim the Constitution of...

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va – Police say they cannot confirm that the gang rape described in a Rolling Stone article last year occurred at the University of Virginia. Police Chief Timothy Longo said during a news conference Monday that police could not confirm that a rape occurred at any fraternity house. The Rolling Stone article described the gang rape of a student identified only as “Jackie” at a Phi Kappa Psi fraternity house in 2012. Jackie did not cooperate with investigators. Soon after the article was published in November, discrepancies were found in it. Rolling Stone has apologized and said it would...

<p>CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. -- Police say they cannot confirm that the gang rape described in a Rolling Stone article last year occurred at the University of Virginia.</p>
<p>Police Chief Timothy Longo said during a news conference Monday that police could not confirm that a rape occurred at any fraternity house, adding that there was no evidence of a party at the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity house on the night of the alleged rape. The Rolling Stone article described the gang rape of a student identified only as "Jackie" at the fraternity house in 2012.</p>

The nine justices will hear a one particular-hour oral argument in a case that raises the situation of how states can let or reject politically divisive messages on license plates with out violating absolutely free speech rights. States can generate revenue...

He’s going to skip the exploratory committee and go straight for the jugular. Ted Cruz plans to run for president. The Houston Chronicle broke the news just before midnight Saturday evening, citing senior advisers speaking on the condition of anonymity who said that Cruz, the Texas Tea Party Republican elected to the U.S. Senate in 2012, would pursue the presidency. The announcement would make Cruz the first Republican to officially declare his candidacy. Cruz will announced his candidacy at a convocation ceremony at Liberty University in Virginia, the Chronicle reported. The senior advisers cited by the Chronicle said Cruz aims...

The threat of failing may no longer be such a consequence for underperforming students in some Virginia schools. Why? School administrators in the city of Fairfax are prepared to ban zeroes to spare students’ feelings. In Montgomery County, students cannot be given a score lower than 50 percent “unless they did not actually do the assignment or put in effort to do it,” said schools spokesman Dana Tofig. In Loudoun County, the grading practices regarding zeros varies school to school, said spokesman Wayde Byard. Starting as early as this year, grades in northern Virginia could have more of an emphasis on...

U.S. Senator Ted Cruz, a leading conservative who has been considering running for the Republican presidential nomination, will make an important speech on Monday at Liberty University in Virginia, an aide told the Daily Beast website on Friday. A member of Cruz' staff declined to tell the website the specific nature of the address but said, "You're going to want to be there."(continued)

This is a developing story, and will continue to be updated with the latest information available. Martese Johnson, a third-year student in the College and a member of the Honor Committee and Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity, was arrested around 12:45 a.m. on Mar. 18 in front of Trinity Irish Pub on the Corner. At the request of University President Teresa Sullivan, a state investigation into the use of force in Johnson's arrest is now underway. Johnson was charged with resisting arrest, obstructing justice without threats of force, and profane swearing or intoxication in public at 4:21 a.m. The arresting officer was Alcohol...

(CNN)"Hey! His head is bleeding! Yo, his head is bleeding!" a bystander screams. Martese Johnson is lying face-down on the pavement, blood flowing from his forehead. He was injured when Virginia alcohol control agents took him to the ground, trying to arrest him for public intoxication and obstruction of justice. As he's pinned, video captures him yelling: "I go to UVA! ... You f****** racists! What the f***? How did this happen?" An agent can be heard telling the student to stop fighting.

Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe is calling for an investigation into the arrest of a college student with Chicago ties who was shown in a photo with a bloody face as he was held down by an officer. Charlottesville General District Court records show that Martese Johnson is charged on two counts: obstruction of justice without force, and public swearing or intoxication. The Alcoholic Beverage Control agent who made the arrest Wednesday morning, listed in court records as J. Miller, said in the arrest report that Johnson "was very agitated and belligerent." A statement from a group calling itself "Concerned Black...

The early American settlers called it "the starving time," and accounts of the winter of 1609-1610 were so ghastly, and so morbid, that scholars weren't sure if the stories were true. George Percy, then president of the English settlement of Jamestown in Virginia, wrote that settlers ate horses, then cats and dogs, then boots and bits of leather, and, finally, one another. "One of our colony murdered his wife, ripped the child out of her womb and threw it into the river, and after chopped the mother in pieces and salted her for his food," wrote Percy, who then ordered...

NORFOLK The failures of a civilian police officer at the gate of Norfolk Naval Station allowed an intruder to enter the base without authorization last March and fatally shoot a sailor aboard the destroyer Mahan as it sat pierside, a Navy investigation has found. The guard failed to ask the intruder for identification or his intent, did not immediately pursue him when he realized the driver was not making a U-turn, and did not sound an alarm to warn others on base, demonstrating a complete lapse of proper security procedure, said the Navy report, released Tuesday evening. Those errors were...

A Leesburg, Virginia, Town Council member drew criticism from the president of the Loudoun County branch of the NAACP after stating that God — not government — was solely responsible for freeing America’s slaves and correcting racial injustice. “It’s the . . . hand of God touching the hearts of man that will bring unity within diversity, it’s not government,” Leesburg council member Thomas Dunn said at a public meeting Tuesday. Dunn spoke after a well-attended public hearing at which dozens of Loudoun County residents urged the town council to approve the creation of the Leesburg Diversity Commission. Dunn abstained...

James Carville said in an interview broadcast Sunday that it would be a waste of time for any Democrat to challenge Hillary Clinton in 2016. “I’ve had maybe three people come up to me and say, ‘Well, I’m for somebody else other than Hillary,’ “ the Democratic strategist told host John Catsimatidis on “The Cats Roundtable” on AM 970 in New York. “And I know I run into more Democrats in more places than maybe anybody else in the United States,” he added. “Of course, Senator [Jim] Webb and Governor [Martin] O’Malley can say anything they want. But, in terms...

Recent scientific findings date their arrival earlier than ever thought, sparking hot debate among archaeologists For much of its length, the slow-moving Aucilla River in northern Florida flows underground, tunneling through bedrock limestone. But here and there it surfaces, and preserved in those inky ponds lie secrets of the first Americans.For years adventurous divers had hunted fossils and artifacts in the sinkholes of the Aucilla about an hour east of Tallahassee. They found stone arrowheads and the bones of extinct mammals such as mammoth, mastodon and the American ice age horse.Then, in the 1980s, archaeologists from the Florida Museum of...

A SPECIAL INVESTIGATIVE REPORT by Major Glenn MacDonald, Editor of MilitaryCorruption.com revealed an American “Dreyfus Affair” taking place in the U.S. Army as Major Erik Burris is railroaded by his former JAG colleagues. Major MacDonald writes of: RETALIATION AGAINST [BURRIS] FOR TELLING TRUTH IN PREVIOUS COURT-MARTIAL ABOUT HOW ARMY PUSHES ALL FEMALE SEX CHARGE CASES TOWARD COURT-MARTIAL EVEN IF NO PROOF – DECEPTIVE PRESS RELEASE AT CONCLUSION OF MAJOR’S TRIAL AND CONVICTION FOR RAPE FAILED TO SAY ARMY’S OWN INVESTIGATIVE OFFICER FOUND BURRIS’ WIFE ACCUSER TO BE “UNTRUTHFUL” RECOMMENDED MAJ NOT BE COURT-MARTIALED NONETHELESS, HE GETS 20 YEARS IN PRISON...

Jefferson, a member of the gentry of Old Virginia, was always regarded as one of the best and brightest of his generation, a gentleman of the finest intellect, taste, and manners. Although Jefferson loved and was loyal to the Union, he was a Virginian first and an American second; Virginia, Jefferson avowed, was his “country.” This order of allegiance – State over Union, or “Society” over “the State” – was firmly rooted in the Old South. Accordingly, in the emerging conflict between the North and the South, Jefferson sided with his own country. “It is true that we are completely...

For the second straight election cycle, Republicans in Virginia may face a limited choice when picking their party’s candidate for president. After a much-derided 2012 primary that offered voters a ballot with only two candidates to choose from, the state GOP is now contemplating scrapping the primary system entirely in favor of a nominating convention.

Portsmouth Sheriff Bill Watson says he is furious after a group of judges told him to take down an American flag display. Sheriff Watson said his agency got the American flag display as a gift from members of the Portsmouth Fire Department a few weeks ago. It’s made of old fire hoses which a sign beneath it that reads, “A Tribute to Public Safety.” Watson said he requested to have it mounted on the wall in the lobby of the courthouse but was shocked by what he was told. Watson said he was told, “Not only do we not want...

A former Culpeper police officer has lost an appeal of his voluntary manslaughter conviction stemming from the shooting of an unarmed woman. The Virginia Supreme Court refused to rehear 35-year-old Daniel Harmon-Wright's case. Harmon-Wright's lawyer, Daniel Hawes, tells the Culpeper Star-Exponent (http://bit.ly/1FLyGsz ) that his client will appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. Harmon-Wright received a three-year prison sentence following his conviction in Culpeper Circuit Court in January 2013. He was responding to a report of a suspicious vehicle in a church parking lot when he shot 54-year-old Patricia Ann Cook on Feb. 9, 2012. He has said he shot...

RICHMOND — Less than a year after Eric Cantor’s shocking defeat to a tea party challenger, House Speaker William J. Howell is taking nothing for granted in his first serious primary challenge in nearly three decades. The latest sign that Howell (R-Stafford) learned from the mistakes of the former majority leader of the U.S. House of Representatives came Wednesday, when the state lawmaker launched a Web site titled “We Know Bill.” It includes dozens of vignettes, complete with photos and fawning quotes, from retirees, busi­ness­peo­ple and activists talking about why they support Howell over his challenger, Susan Stimpson. The approach...

I received this e-mail from our Faithful Navigator this morning. Dear Knights and friends of the Knights of Columbus, It was recently announced that Gov. Terry McAuliffe was selected as the Grand Marshall for this year's Norfolk St. Patrick's Day Parade (March 14th) which is sponsored by the Knights of Columbus Council 3548. http://norfolkparade.com This was against the directive of Holy Trinity Pastor, Fr. Dan Beeman. Please read Fr. Beeman's letter below. It appears that the KofC State Deputy, Steve Burnley, first agreed to immediately replace Terry McAuliffe, but later he reversed his decision. It is totally unacceptable that Terry...

Franklin County Sheriff’s Office officials say a woman was shot in both legs and her boyfriend shot through his hand after her gun went off in her purse Saturday afternoon. Lt. Phillip Young said the woman’s Glock went off while the couple sat in a vehicle outside a residence in the 1400 block of Virgil H. Goode Highway in Bassett about 3:30 p.m. The man, who was in the driver’s seat, put a drink can in the woman’s purse before putting his hand on her leg . “[The bullet] went through his hand, through one of her legs near the...

A women's liberal arts college in Virginia announced Tuesday that the spring 2015 semester would be its last — even though the school still has a $94 million endowment. Sweet Briar College — located near Lynchburg, Virginia — will close "as a result of insurmountable financial challenges," the school said in a statement. Sweet Briar administrators cited several trends that informed the decision to close, including the declining number of female students interested in all-women colleges and the dwindling number of students overall interested in small, rural liberal arts colleges. Last year, Bloomberg Businessweek reported that small, private US colleges...

The cellars held a large number of artifacts including pieces of the house's ceilings and painted walls, fragments of 18th century pottery and other ceramics, glass shards, wig curlers and toothbrush handles made of bone. Muraca said they also recovered larger objects such as pieces of a tea set that probably belonged to George's mother, Mary Ball Washington; wine bottles, knives, forks and 10 pieces of a group of small figurines that might have stood on a mantle. They also discovered a well-used pipe bowl, blackened from smoking, that was marked with a Masonic crest. Washington joined the Fredericksburg Lodge...

MOUNT VERNON, Va., Feb. 13, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- George Washington's home, Mount Vernon, celebrates our first president's birthday with three days of special events including an outdoor cooking demonstration by celebrated chefs, a new food exhibition with more than 125 objects from the Washingtons' kitchen, a surprise birthday celebration for "George Washington", book signing with PBS's A Taste of History host Chef Walter Staib, and much more! Saturday and Sunday events are included in Estate admission, and admission to all events on Monday, February 20, events are FREE in honor of George Washington's birthday! Saturday, February 18All events...

Currently, 61 members of Congress have confirmed they will not attend the speech. Arizona Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ) California Rep. Karen Bass (D-CA) Rep. Lois Capps (D-CA) Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) — “I am disappointed Speaker Boehner chose to irresponsibly interject politics into what has long been a strong and bipartisan relationship between the United States and Israel. As President Obama has noted, it is inappropriate for a Head of State to address Congress just two weeks ahead of their election. I agree that Congress should not be used as a prop in Israeli election campaigns,...

Michael Youlen stopped a driver in a Manassas apartment complex on a recent night and wrote the man a ticket for driving on a suspended license. With a badge on his chest and a gun on his hip, Youlen gave the driver a stern warning to stay off the road. The stop was routine police work, except for one fact: Youlen is not a Manassas officer. The citation came courtesy of the private force he created that, until recently, he called the “Manassas Junction Police Department.” He is its chief and sole officer. He is a force of one. And...

Nottaway High School Senior Tommy Adams and his mother were driving home from the Department of Motor Vehicles, when they spotted an elderly man trying to shovel snow from his driveway. However, it wasn't just an elderly man, but an elderly man with a walker attempting to do the shoveling on his own. Tommy wanted to help. "Tommy said 'Mamma stop the car,'" Teresa Adams told WTVR. "I got scared and asked 'what's wrong?'" "He said, 'there's an older man with a walker shoveling snow — I'll help him out,'" she added. Apparently the snow plows had passed by to...

White privilege didn't protect John Geer. That's not to say he didn't have it. As a middle-class kitchen designer living in the pleasant Washington suburb of Fairfax, Va., he had nothing whatsoever in common with the impoverished black men killed by police in Missouri and Brooklyn last year. But Geer, pierced 18 months ago by a police bullet as he stood inside the screen door of his own home, his hands raised, begging not to be shot, simply disappeared into the emotional mixing bowl of American news and political priorities. That should not have happened. The killing of John Geer...

Lewis Reynolds didn't understand what had been done to him when he was 13. Years later, after getting married, the Lynchburg man discovered he couldn't father children. The reason: He had been sterilized by the state. Reynolds was among more than 7,000 Virginians involuntarily sterilized between 1924 and 1979 under the Virginia Eugenical Sterilization Act. Advocates for the surviving victims won a three-year fight Thursday when the Virginia General Assembly budgeted $400,000 to compensate them at the rate of $25,000 each. It's welcome news, Reynolds said. "I think they done me wrong," he said. "I couldn't have a family like...

TORONTO - The Shopsy’s Deli chain has assigned a new name to a featured sandwich which was called the “Bill Cosby” for years. The corned beef sandwich had been named after the embattled comedian for several years before the current owners bought the restaurants, said Gavin Quinn, president of the Irish Embassy Group. The company bought Shopsy’s around eight years ago with the sandwich already on the menu. “I don’t even think people really associate it with the celebrity,” Quinn said. “They know it more as a food item.” A number of women have accused Cosby of sexually assaulting them....

Fr. Terry is a priest in the Diocese of Arlington, Virginia. Raised in the Baptist Church, he was later very active in the Assembly of God church before finding his way home to the Catholic Church at the age of 26. He graduated from Virginia Tech in 1986 with a B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering. In 1995 he graduated from St. Charles Borromeo Seminary, Overbrook, PA, with a Master of Divinity and a Master of Arts. That same year he was ordained a priest for the Arlington Diocese. He is the brother of Catholic apologist Tim Staples.

A Virginia Tech student has announced that he will be petitioning the college to change the historic War Memorial Chapel into a Mosque because of perceived “oppression” of Muslims. Posting on Facebook, the student outlined his plans on the Virginia Tech class of 2018 page. Screenshots were taken by a member of the group and the students’ names have been hidden to keep them anonymous. The student believes that converting the Church into a Mosque will “play an essential role in improving the campus:” Explaining why he believes this to be true, the student explained, "having a chapel in the...

Former small town Democratic Party chairman 'plotted to hire hit man to kill girls aged nine and ten who he molested' before they could testify against him A former chairman of the Falls Church Democratic Party charged with molesting two young girls is accused of plotting to have them killed before they testified against him during his trial. Michael Gardner, 50, from Falls Church, Virginia, is said to have approached an inmate in 2013 about finding a hit man to kill the young girls. The inmate he contacted notified police in January about their multiple conversations, according to court documents....

Actor Samuel L. Jackson, who worked as a camera stand-in for Bill Cosby for three years in the 1980s, is the latest celebrity to weigh-in on the sexual assault scandal that continues to engulf the comedian. The Pulp Fiction star said on Bravoâ€™s Watch What Happens Live on Thursday: 'I wish he would say something.' 'Popular opinion would say, ''Where thereâ€™s smoke, thereâ€™s fire'',' Jackson said, according to philly.com. 'But, I mean, I canâ€™t make a judgment about it. 'I mean, I make my judgments because I have a daughter, I have a wife that I love. 'I have a...